Cross Country Case: Urban Murder
by Peonywinx
Summary: Crossover with NCIS. A missing Marine turns up dead in New York, bringing Gibbs' team to the Big Apple to work with Mac's CSIs. As they work the case, however, it evolves from a simple murder to a complicated crime that leads somewhere very deep and dark.
1. Prologue

_**A/N: The breaks between my stories seem to be getting shorter and shorter nowadays. This time, the story's the beginning of a triple crossover trilogy between** CSI:NY, NCIS, **and **NCIS: Los Angeles. **I put this solely in the **CSI:NY **fandom ****because I can't place it in a triple crossover section, and anyway, the majority of this story takes place in New York. The timeline is somewhere during Season 6 of CSI:NY, and Season 7 of NCIS.**_

* * *

><p><em><strong>Cross-Country <strong>__**Case:**__** Urban**__** Murder**_

**Prologue**

_10:00, October 28; NCIS Headquarters, Washington, D.C._

It's in a state of chaos. Or rather, one particular floor is in a state of chaos. Which floor is that? The floor on which the team led by former Marine and Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs resides.

"McGee!" Gibbs called to the computer expert over the excited chatter that pervaded the room. "Tell me you have something on our missing Marine."

Timothy McGee looked up from under his desk, banging his head on it as he did so. "Ouch – yes, boss, I do have something." Ignoring the snickers coming from Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, McGee typed up something on his computer, making it show up on the large LCD screen that the rest of the team were staring at.

"Lt. Col. Leah Jasper checked in at the Marriott Hotel in New York two weeks ago for her vacation," he said, as the official records of said hotel popped up on the LCD screen. "She notified her superior, Col. James Sheridan, that she would be away for ten days on her leave of absence. Sheridan filed a Missing Persons report yesterday when she didn't show up for Corps duty at the appointed time. He called her several times, but she didn't pick up. As far as he knows she hasn't returned to Washington… "

"Which means she's probably still in New York," Gibbs finished.

"According to her track record, she's never missed a day of work before," supplied Junior Agent and newly naturalized American citizen Ziva David. "Which leaves either…"

"Kidnap or murder," Gibbs completed.

Just then the door that led to MTAC, the communications room, burst open to reveal Director Leon Vance.

"Gibbs, Sheridan just got a call from Leah Jasper's cell phone, but it isn't her. The MTAC agents are tracking the call as we speak."

Already starting up the staircase, Gibbs said, "I want to talk to whoever it is."

"Gibbs, it's Sheridan's call…" Vance began.

"And it's my team who's investigating this case," Gibbs told him calmly as he came face to face with the director. He proceeded to enter MTAC without waiting for a reply from Vance. Wordlessly, he extended his hand, palm up, for the cell phone Sheridan was talking into.

"…all right, listen, we're not getting anywhere with this conversation, so I'm passing you over to one of my colleagues," Sheridan said into the phone, and before the person on the other line could protest, he pressed the phone into Gibbs' open palm. Gibbs put the phone to his ear but remained silent.

_"__Hello?__"_ a female voice on the other end said nervously. _"__Is__ anyone__ there?__"_

At last Gibbs said, "This is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of NCIS. Can I ask what you're doing calling from a cell phone that belongs to a missing Marine?"

There was a stunned silence on the other end. Then the woman said, _"Special Agent Gibbs, I'm Detective Lindsay Monroe of the New York Crime Lab. I believe we've found your missing Marine."_


	2. Chapter One

_**A/N: Thanks to my six reviewers **leath, TwilightPony21, Aeris - Goddess of Music, Big Bag Fan,miss37, **and **afrozenheart412 **for reviewing! Thank**__**s also to **__FinalAvenue, miss37, **and **afrozenheart412 **for**_ _**adding this story to story alerts.**_

_**Now, just a bit of info here - I will be updating daily, as usual - and there will be times and locations listed at the beginning of each chapter, to sort of give you an idea of when and where the story's happening. There will be no such data given in the middle of the chapter, unless I feel it's necessary. Also, each story of the trilogy will take place in a different city - this one in New York, the next one in Washington, D.C., and the third in Los Angeles.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

_13:22, October 26 (two days ago); Morgue, New York City Crime Lab, NY_

"What've you got for me, Sid?" Detective Stella Bonasera, second-in-command of the NYPD lab, asked as she entered the autopsy room.

The medical examiner, Sid Hammerback, went over to the autopsy table where their Jane Doe vic lay, the Y-incision clearly visible on her pale skin. "The blunt force trauma to her head was post-mortem. COD was asphyxiation caused by water inhalation."

"She was drowned?" Stella queried.

Sid nodded in affirmation. "I found a substantial amount of chlorine in the water from her lungs – not unusual, seeing how she was found near the pool – but the funny thing is, I also found traces of latex in the same water." He handed her a small container in which he had placed a few drops of the water from their victim's lungs. "I believe her swimming cap was filled with water from the pool and then forced over her head."

Stella took the container from the Medical Examiner's hand, making a mental note to give it to Hawkes later. "That's a strange way of drowning someone. There was a whole swimming pool right next to her; would have been a whole lot easier to drown her there than to force a water-filled swimming cap over her head."

"Indeed," Sid agreed. "However, I don't think we are looking at a normal murder."

"Sid, there's nothing normal about murder. It's not even supposed to be done."

"True. But I also discovered a small mark just above her right ankle," said Sid, snapping his glasses together. "Take a look at this."

Stella bent down to see the small red 'M' carved into their victim's leg.

"'M'? What does that mean?" she asked.

"I have no idea," Sid told her. "But I have confirmed that it was post-mortem, and the bruising around her wrists and ankles were definitely created by tension from ropes. And there are multiple lacerations on her arms, chest, and abdomen – those were ante-mortem. Our vic was tortured before she was killed. I've also found several defensive wounds. She put up quite a fight. Time of death was approximately five hours before you found her."

"And no one discovered her before then?"

"Well," said Sid, "she _was_ stuffed behind a bench next to the wall."

"Is there anything on her that might lead us to her killer?" asked Stella. "Skin cells, blood, hairs?"

"Unfortunately, no. And I couldn't get an ID," replied Sid. "It seems our Jane Doe will remain a Jane Doe for now. But I did send her fingerprints up to Lindsay and Adam came by for her tox screen, though from what I could see, she probably didn't have any drugs in her system. Oh, and one more thing." Sid picked up a plastic evidence bag containing a bloodied, badly torn black one-piece swimsuit. "This is the suit our vic was wearing when she was killed. She was only going for a swim when she was attacked."

"Thanks, Sid," said Stella as she accepted the bag. Her phone rang. Flipping it open, she replied with her trademark, "Bonasera."

_"Hey, Stel,"_ Detective Don Flack said on the other end. _"I finally got into our vic's room to pick up her stuff. I'll cart it back to the lab."_

"You do that," Stella said. "I'm gonna go check on Danny and Lindsay, see if they have anything for me."

_"Yeah, sure,"_ said Flack, before he hung up.

* * *

><p>Flack and another officer brought two boxes of evidence to the lab, where they found Danny Messer and Lindsay Monroe-Messer already analyzing the fingerprints Sid had sent up to them.<p>

"Hey, Lindsay, got any hits?" Danny was asking her.

Lindsay, who was staring at the computer, shook her head. "It's still running through AFIS."

"No need for that," Flack said as he came into the room, carrying one box. He set it down on a nearby table, as did the other detective, and took a black leather wallet out from it and flipped it open.

"Victim's name is Leah Jasper, from Washington D.C," he said.

"You sure?" Lindsay asked.

"Positive," Flack assured her.

"Good." Lindsay stopped the search engine. "That saves time and…whoa. How much stuff did you take from her room?" she asked, eyeing the two overfull boxes.

Flack shrugged. "She brought a lot of things. Looks like she was planning on an extended holiday. We got all her clothes, her jewelry, her wallet, her cell phone, and her laptop."

Danny groaned and Flack looked at him.

"Something wrong, Messer?" he asked.

"Flack, this stuff's going to take ages to process," Danny said.

"Well, then, you'd better get started, hadn't you? It's times like these I'm glad I'm not a lab rat." And with a wicked look on his face, Flack and the officer exited while Danny glared after them, just as Stella entered the room from the opposite direction.

"All right, what you got for me?" she asked.

"Unfortunately, nothing much," answered Danny, pulling his attention to Stella. "But, I did manage to get some blood off Jasper's pool towel that was _not _from her. Here." He thrust a sheet of paper towards Stella. "Ran it through CODIS; no hits."

"And the tox screen came back from Adam," added Lindsay. "She was clean. No drugs or alcohol in her system, not even prescription ones."

"Yeah, Sid said she probably wouldn't have any," said Stella. "Got an ID?"

"Yeah, Flack just dropped by with the stuff from her room. Vic's name is Leah Jasper, lived in Washington D.C.," replied Danny.

"Anything else?"

Lindsay shook her head. "We'll know more once we process Flack's evidence."

"Provided we even manage to get through it all," said Danny with a defeatist air. "Flack probably ransacked the entire hotel room. I've never seen so much evidence."

Stella chuckled. "Well, unfortunately I'm going to have to add a bit more to your pile." She handed him the bag containing the swimsuit. "I need you to process this. The killer could have left something incriminating on it while he was drowning her."

Danny groaned but he said, "You got it."

* * *

><p><em>09:55, October 28; Processing, NY Crime Lab<em>

Lindsay scrolled through Leah Jasper's phone records with one gloved finger on the button. She wondered why, in the two days since Flack had brought it in, she had not thought of doing it sooner.

_Maybe there is something in what they say about mothers being forgetful, _she thought, thinking with a smile of Lucy, who was being babysat at home by their regular sitter. Of course, her forgetfulness might also have something to do with the fact that Flack really had brought over a ton of stuff – all of which had to be processed, bagged, tagged, and documented.

It was then that she noticed something rather interesting.

"Hey, Danny," she called. Come over here."

Danny obliged, glad to have an excuse to leave the bloody pool towel he was processing on the nearby table.

"What's up, Linds?" he asked.

"Look at this." Lindsay showed him Leah Jasper's received calls. The same number was repeated five times in a row.

Danny whistled. "Wow. Someone really wanted to talk to her. Any messages?"

"Yeah…all five of them came with one." Lindsay pressed a button to play the voice mail.

_"Jasper, you're late for duty. You'd better have a good reason for this."_

_ "Jasper, did you get my earlier message? You're two hours late. What's going on?"_

_ "All right, Jasper, if this is a joke, it isn't funny. Call me back."_

_ "Jasper, is something going on? We're all getting pretty worried back here. Call back."_

_ "_What _is going on? Are you okay?"_

"Wow," said Danny again. "He really wanted to get hold of her. What d'you think, Montana? Should we call and find out who he is?"

Lindsay smiled and, her finger already on the button, said, "Definitely." And, careful not to touch it with her skin, she put the phone near her ear and dialed.

* * *

><p><em>10:03, October 28 (the present); NCIS Headquarters<em>

"McGee, book us on the next flight to New York. DiNozzo, tell Abby and Ducky to pack their bags, then gear up. You too, Ziva," Gibbs commanded.

When nobody moved following this rather stunning announcement, Gibbs added, "Now!" Then, of course, everyone scrambled.

"Uh, boss?" Tony piped up as he waited for the elevator down to Abby's lab. "Where're we going?"

Gibbs gave him a look. "New York, DiNozzo, I just said so. Now are you going down or aren't you?" Tony hastened into the open elevator without further ado. Gibbs raised his voice and called, "McGee! When's that flight?"

"Coming, boss!" said McGee, his ear to his phone. After a moment he ended the call. "I've booked six seats on the next plane to New York. It leaves in two hours."

"I want you all at the airport in forty minutes. Let's move it, people!" Gibbs ordered as Tony, Abby, and Ducky exited the elevator.

"Gibbs!" Abby squealed as she ran towards him. "Is it true? Are we really going to the Big Apple?"

Gibbs just gave her a look, with a hint of a smile, and Abby gave another delighted squeal.

"Oh, cool, we're going to New York! I always wanted to go there, from the time when I was a little kid. I saw this movie set in New York, and it looked so cool with all its skyscrapers and things, and..."

"Abs."

"Oh, right, not much time. Got it."

"You did book us first-class tickets, didn't you?" Tony asked McGee apprehensively.

"DiNozzo!"

"Shutting up, boss."

Ziva chuckled from her desk.

"What are you laughing about, Ziva?" Tony asked irritably.

"You, Tony," said Ziva. "You are asking about first-class tickets when you haven't even collected your things. I find that highly ironical." She herself had already cleared up her desk and had gathered the things she needed.

"Oh, yeah?"Tony retorted as he holstered his gun. "I didn't see _you _going down to get Abby and Ducky."

"Gibbs!" called a new voice. Director Vance looked over the railing of the staircase. "You can't call a sudden impromptu trip to New York without my approval, whether it's for investigational purposes or not."

Gibbs climbed up the staircase so he was eye to eye with Vance. "We've got a dead Marine in New York, and the NYPD lab has all the evidence we need. The crime happened in New York; the killer's probably in New York. There's nowhere else to go."

Vance leveled a stare at him. "Fine. But keep a low profile. And I want regular updates on what's going on." He paused, then added, "You've got a week."

Gibbs said nothing, but he made his way down the stairs.

Forty minutes later Gibbs and his team got through the gate to the hangar where their plane was waiting, and one hour twenty minutes later, after they were seated, the plane began lift-off.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Tomorrow: NCIS meets CSI:NY. Stay tuned!**_


	3. Chapter Two

**_A/N: Well, only two reviewers today...I must admit I'm a little disheartened by that, but what can I do? Anyway, thanks to those two people: _**_DizzyDrea **and **leath. **Thanks also to **agentracer25 **and **CODIS **for favoriting ****this story. How about leaving a review or two next time?**  
><em>

_**About today's chapter...it's a little short, but I trust you'll forgive me for the length, especially with NCIS meets CSI:NY coming tomorrow.**  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

_10:30, October 28; Mac Taylor's office, NY Crime Lab_

"Mac," Stella called as she entered her best friend's office. "Lindsay made a breakthrough on the case." She handed him a file she had pulled from the naval database. "Our vic's a Marine."

"Leah Jasper, Lieutenant-Colonel, Bronze Star recipient, lived in Washington D.C.," Mac read from the file. He looked up. "How'd Lindsay figure out she was a Marine?"

"She was looking through Jasper's phone, when she noticed five calls in a row, all received from the same number," Stella answered. "She called the number, and the person who made those calls turned out to be a Col. James Sheridan, Jasper's CO. Then the phone was passed to a Leroy Jethro Gibbs, who identified himself as a Special Agent of NCIS. He told Lindsay that the phone she was calling from belonged to a missing Marine in an ongoing investigation."

"And now their missing Marine is our murder victim," Mac deduced. He placed the file on his desk, where Leah Jasper's autopsy report and tox screen results and Danny and Lindsay's findings so far already lay. Seeing Sid's handwriting on the autopsy report, Stella remembered something.

"Mac, the 'M'," she said. "Sid found the letter 'M' carved into Jasper's right ankle. M for Marine."

"It's possible," Mac conceded, "But why would the killer leave a clue to Jasper's identity? It would only make it easier to find him."

"Unless he's playing a game with us," said Stella.

"Wouldn't be the first time it's happened," Mac conceded.

"But there's gotta be a reason for it," Stella said. "A killer wouldn't leave such a clue, unless…" She trailed off as she realized something.

"Stella?" Mac prompted.

"Sid said there were no identifying features or objects on the vic," said Stella. "Don't Marines usually wear ID tags? You've still got yours, haven't you?"

Mac's hand automatically went for his chest, where his tag lay beneath his shirt.

"But Leah Jasper didn't have her tag on her," Stella continued. "Nor was there anything in her wallet to suggest that she was a Marine."

Mac realized what she was getting at. "Which means that either she left behind anything that would identify her as a Marine in Washington, or her killer took it all."

"I'll get Lindsay to dust for fingerprints on the wallet," said Stella.

* * *

><p><em>"Passengers from Flight 11, please proceed to Gate 12. Passengers from Flight 11, please proceed to Gate 12."<em>

Tony stepped out of their plane, which had just landed, feeling cramped and queasy. "You couldn't have booked us first-class tickets," he shot at McGee, who was making his way down.

"There were only economy tickets available on such short notice, Tony," McGee replied, hauling his suitcase off the plane.

Tony, still disgruntled, grunted and heaved his bag up his shoulder, trying to ignore the smug look on Ziva's face that was plainly saying, "Poor, spoilt, pampered Tony."

Abby was zooming around the place with exclamations of delight and excitement.

"I can see the skyscrapers, Gibbs!" she chattered excitedly. "Oh, oh, and the Empire State Building! If you stand on tiptoe at this angle you can just see –"

"Abby," Gibbs reprimanded, though he couldn't help a slight smile at her antics.

"Sorry, Gibbs!" Abby said immediately, saluting.

"Jethro," said Ducky as he emerged from the plane. "If we are to make it to the hotel by two o' clock, we had better get moving. We still have to get through security, after all."

"You're right, Duck," Gibbs agreed. And he raised his voice. "Abby! DiNozzo! Ziva! McGee! Get over here!"

* * *

><p>Lindsay dusted the surface of Leah Jasper's wallet with a light layer of fingerprinting powder. "Come on, give me something," she muttered as she ran the brush over the leather. "Yes!" she exclaimed as she spied a thumb print in the corner.<p>

"You got something?" Danny asked, scooting over.

"Yeah, a print," she replied, taking a piece of sticky paper and carefully placing it over the fingerprint. She held it up in one gloved hand to see it better.

"Linds, there's more over here." Danny pointed.

"There're bound to be, and most are probably our vic's," said Lindsay. She sighed. "We've got more work ahead of us."

"Well, you go ahead and lift all the prints while I finish processing our vic's clothes," said Danny. "I'll run the prints through AFIS for you when you're done."

"Okay," Lindsay agreed.

They continued their work in silence. Danny discarded all the clothes which had nothing interesting to tell while Lindsay finished dusting the wallet. Then Danny, having finished processing all the clothing and finding nothing, went over to the computer to analyze the prints while Lindsay took over at the table.

Several minutes passed uneventfully. Then the computer began beeping.

"Boom," said Danny.

"What you got?" asked Lindsay.

"I got a set of prints belonging to a Marie Wilcox, married to Linnaeus Wilcox," answered Danny. He picked up his phone and dialed Flack. "Hey, Flack, we've got a suspect. Marie Wilcox's prints were on our vic's wallet. I'm sending the address to your phone."

"I got it," said Flack's voice on the other end. "I'll bring her in."

"All right." Danny disconnected the call just as Sheldon Hawkes came into the room.

"Hey, Hawkes," he greeted. "You got anything on the water sample?"

Hawkes looked nonplussed for a moment before he realized what Danny was referring to. "Oh, yeah, got the results a few minutes ago. It's just your average chlorinated pool water, except for some minute traces of the latex that sports companies use to make swimming caps. Compared it with the latex from Jasper's swimming cap; it's a match. There's nothing in the water that shouldn't be there. But that's not why I came down here."

"It's not?" Lindsay asked.

"No," replied Hawkes. "Mac sent me. He's waiting for us in his office. Apparently a delegation from some naval organization in Washington wants the case."

"Well, I wish them luck on that," said Danny as he and Lindsay followed Hawkes out of the room. "Mac doesn't let go of his cases easily."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: I may have accidentally said that NCIS would meet CSI:NY today. I'm sorry - that's tomorrow. I got the chapters mixed up.**_

_**Reviews are much appreciated ;)**_


	4. Chapter Three

_**A/N: Thank you to** __DizzyDrea **for pointing out that domestic flights within the U.S. do**_ _**not require a Customs check, as I implied in the last chaper. That error has been rectified.**_

_**Thank you to my reviewers **DizzyDrea, Serena Bancroft, leath, **and **castlencis**; and thanks to **shipperheart, Serena Bancroft **and **Vesta Dragon **for adding this story to alerts, alerts, and favorites, respectively. Thanks also to **castlencis **for favoritin****g the story and adding me to author alert and author favorites.**_

_**Now, about this chapter...well, it's NCIS meets CSI:NY. What more do I have to say?**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong>

_14:45, October 28; Mac's office, NY Crime Lab_

When Danny, Lindsay, and Hawkes reached Mac's office, they found it already packed with Mac, Stella, Sid, Adam Ross, and seven individuals they didn't know.

"Danny. Lindsay. Hawkes," said Mac. "Good, you're here; now we can get things sorted out. Special Agent Gibbs, you already know me – and this is my team, Detectives Stella Bonasera, Danny Messer, Lindsay Monroe, and CSI Sheldon Hawkes. That's Sid Hammerback, our Medical Examiner, and that's Adam Ross, our lab technician. Everyone, this is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and his team."

Gibbs nodded to each person in turn, then he introduced his own team. "Anthony DiNozzo, Ziva David, Timothy McGee, Abby Sciuto, and Dr. Donald Mallard," he said, pointing to each in turn. "Are you the woman who called from Lt. Col. Jasper's cell phone?" he asked Lindsay.

"Yes," she replied.

"Your call sparked some excitement in NCIS. We're taking over this case."

"Hold on a minute," said Mac. "This is _our_ city, and _we're_ investigating the murder."

"Leah Jasper was a Marine," countered Gibbs, "which makes her case fall under the jurisdiction of NCIS."

"How much you wanna bet we get the case hands down, no questions asked?" Tony whispered to McGee.

"I'm not gonna bet against that, Tony."

"Chicken."

"Why don't we assume joint jurisdiction on this case?" Stella suggested. "We'd do more good working together than arguing about who's going to get the case."

"Stella's right," said Mac. "You want the case, and so do we. It would be better to work together." He held out his hand. Gibbs, after a moment's hesitation, smiled and shook it.

"All right, so what have you got so far?" the NCIS supervosory agent asked.

Mac nodded to his team, and Sid plunged into a summary of the autopsy report.

"COD was asphyxiation due to water inhalation. Believe it or not, the murder weapon was her swimming cap. Killer filled it with water and forced it over her head. The multiple abrasions and lacerations I found on her arms, chest, and abdomen indicate she was tied up and tortured before death. There was also an 'M' carved into her right ankle."

"Nothing unusual in the water that was used to drown her," reported Hawkes.

"There was no tag or anything to indicate she was a Marine either on her person or in her room. There were some blood traces on the pool towel that didn't belong to her, but we haven't been able to get a match to anyone," Danny put in.

"We analyzed the prints we found on her wallet and got two unknown partials which don't belong to Jasper, and several others belonging to a woman named Marie Wilcox," added Lindsay. "Flack's picking her up now."

"Tox screen was completely clean; she was clear of all drugs, illegal or prescription," Adam confirmed.

"Duck?" said Gibbs. The New York team was confused by his use of the word, but Ducky answered immediately.

"Ah – well, I'll have to examine the body to confirm Dr. Hammerback's autopsy results, but I think it unlikely that I'll discover anything to contradict his findings." He nodded amicably at Sid.

Mac's cell phone started ringing and he picked it up. "Taylor." He listened for a while. "I'll be right down." Flipping his phone shut, he added to the others, "Flack's got Marie Wilcox in interrogation. Her husband's at work."

"I'll come with you," said Gibbs. He turned to his team to issue some orders. "McGee, Abby, help Mr. Ross. Ducky, autopsy. DiNozzo, with Detectives Messer and Monroe. Ziva, with me." Gibbs and Ziva disappeared after Mac and Stella.

"Come with me, Dr. Mallard. I'll take you to the autopsy room," Sid said.

"Please, call me Ducky," said Gibbs' ME as he followed Sid.

Abby turned to Adam. "So, where's the forensics lab again?" she asked.

"Down the hall," said Adam. "Come on, I'll take you."

Abby spun to face McGee. "Come on, McGee," she said brightly. Shaking his head, McGee followed her and Adam.

"I guess that leaves you with us, huh?" Danny said to Tony. Tony grimaced. Forensics was not his forte.

"Come on, DiNozzo, the faster you come with us, the faster we can get this over with," Lindsay said as she pushed him in the direction of the lab.

Tony looked pained. "It's Tony," he said. "Only Gibbs calls me DiNozzo. It feels weird having anyone else call me that."

"Okay, then…Tony," said Lindsay. "Now come on."

* * *

><p>"Wilcox is in the interrogation room," Flack told Mac and Stella as they approached him. "Who's this?" he asked, nodding towards Gibbs and Ziva.<p>

"Flack, these are Special Agents Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Ziva David of NCIS," said Stella. "They're helping us out with the case. The rest of their team is back at the lab. Gibbs, Ziva, this is Detective Donald Flack, Jr."

"Could have left the 'Junior' out, Stel," Flack complained good-naturedly. Stella just smiled at him.

"Who'll be interrogating the suspect?" asked Ziva.

"I will," Mac and Gibbs said at the same time. They looked at each other.

"Both of us?" Gibbs offered.

"All right," Mac agreed. They went in, while Stella, Flack, and Ziva watched from behind the one-way mirror.

* * *

><p>Marie Wilcox was waiting in the room, looking rather frightened. Her brown curls kept getting in her hazel eyes and she kept pushing them away.<p>

"Mrs. Wilcox?" Mac inquired.

"Y-yes?" squeaked Marie, looking terrified.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions regarding a murder we're investigating. Do you know a Lt. Col. Leah Jasper?" asked Mac. Gibbs simply watched.

"Yes," said Marie hesitantly. Then her eyes widened and she looked from Mac to Gibbs. "Is – is she the one who…"

"Yeah," Gibbs replied. Marie gasped.

"I can't believe it…and Leah too…a Marine…I swear I didn't do it!" cried Marie.

"We're not accusing you of anything, Mrs. Wilcox," said Mac. "We just need to ask you some questions. How did you know Col. Jasper?"

"We've been friends since high school," Marie replied. "Even then she was always saying she wanted to be a Marine. We were both from Washington D.C., but we attended college here, in New York. After we graduated she went back to D.C. to begin her naval training, but I stayed in New York and moved here full time."

"Did you keep in touch with her?" asked Gibbs.

"Yes. We kept contact through email and several phone calls. We met a couple of times in the first few years, but then I didn't see her for five years. She dropped in on me about a week ago; said she was on vacation and wanted to see me, since she was in New York, anyway."

"Mrs. Wilcox, we found your fingerprints on Col. Jasper's wallet," said Gibbs. "Care to explain that?"

Marie looked afraid, but her gaze did not waver. "When she visited me, she told me she'd recently been promoted to lieutenant colonel. She let me look at her Navy ID, because I wasn't sure if she was joking, but there it was: Lieutenant Colonel, in plain letters."

"Then why wasn't there anything suggesting an affiliation with the navy in her wallet?" Gibbs asked, watching her intently.

Marie noticed his gaze and immediately drew back. "I didn't take it!" she cried. "I swear I didn't! I just looked at it to confirm Leah's story and I gave it right back. Honest!"

"We believe you," Mac assured her. "What college did you go to?"

"Berkeley," replied Marie. "We went to Berkeley."

"Can you think of anyone who might want to kill Col. Jasper?" asked Mac. "Any old schoolmates holding grudges, immigrants from the countries she was assigned to?"

Marie shrugged. "She was a Marine. She probably had lots of people who didn't like her. But she did mention she had just come back from Iraq a few months ago." She frowned as she remembered something else. "Wait…there was also Janice Bright."

"Janice Bright?" Gibbs repeated.

"Yes," said Marie. "She was in our year at Berkeley – she took the same classes we did. She hated Leah with a passion. Leah was everything she wasn't – smart, funny, pretty, ambitious. And Janice was just the sulky girl in the corner, shunted off to one side because of Leah. Leah got all the attention wherever she went. She didn't ask for it – it just came. But Janice didn't see it that way. She was intensely jealous of Leah, and she never lost an opportunity to lash at her.

"Then Leah was accepted into the U.S. Marine Corps. The news came in our final year. Leah would be recruited for the navy after she finished college. She shared the news with all of us, and Janice had one more reason to hate her, because her ambition was already fulfilled. She would join the navy, just like she always wanted. Janice couldn't stand the fact that Leah would, once again, have everything. So she hit her. Unfortunately for her, Leah was already practicing unarmed combat. She defended herself, and Janice ended up with a dislocated shoulder, though not before spraining Leah's wrist rather badly.

"Leah was angry for a while, but she held no grudges. But Janice was a different matter. I don't think she's ever forgiven Leah for everything that happened," Marie finished.

"You got an address?" asked Gibbs.

"She's a New York native, and as far as I know she's still here. No clue other than that as to where she lives," Marie replied.

"All right, thank you, Miss Wilcox," Mac said as the three of them rose. "If you remember anything else," he added, holding out his card, "give me a call."

Marie nodded, plucked the card from Mac's hand, and walked out of the room.

* * *

><p>Behind the one-way mirror, Flack asked, "Think she did it?"<p>

"Hard to tell," replied Ziva. "She does not look like a killer, but I've seen far too many people who seem innocent but turn out to be criminals."

"I'll keep tabs on her," Flack promised. He turned to Stella. "Hey, Stel, you wanna grab something to eat on the way back to the lab?"

Stella considered that. "Maybe later," she said. "I need to get Hawkes on Janice Bright. See you later, Don." And she left the precinct.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Just a little side note here: Danny and Lindsay are already married, but Lindsay has kept her maiden name for professional use.**_

_**Tomorrow - the case heats up, big time!**_


	5. Chapter Four

**_A/N: Thanks to my reviewers _**_DizzyDrea, castlencis, lily moonlight, afrozenheart412, **and **leath**; special thanks to **afrozenheart412 **for bulking up my review count by reviewing on every chapter. Also, thank you to **cms4ever **for adding this story to**_ _**alerts.**_

_**Now, on with the case!  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four<strong>

_16:00, October 28; NYPD Crime Lab_

"Hawkes, can you find out where Janice Bright lives?" asked Stella as she entered the room.

"One minute," said Hawkes, as he typed the name into the computer. "Got it. Janice Bright lives in an apartment complex on West 47th Street." He looked more closely. "Huh. Stella, look at this – Janice Bright was accused of robbery twice – she was acquitted the first time but convicted the second, one month ago. Both times the stolen jewelry was never recovered. Bright admitted to having taken part in both robberies and was interrogated about the jewelry's whereabouts, but she swore she didn't know where they were. Claimed she'd given them to an accomplice of hers who had double-crossed her. Said she'd forgotten her name."

"Her?" repeated Stella. "Her accomplice was a woman?"

"Yep," said Hawkes. "Bright spent ten days in jail and was fined $10,000. And get this: Lt. Col. Leah Jasper witnessed the second incident and testified against Bright in the court trial that pronounced her guilty."

"Sounds like a motive. Let's go pay a visit to Miss Bright," said Stella.

* * *

><p>Flack knocked on the door of Janice Bright's apartment. "NYPD, open up!"<p>

There was no answer. Instead, the detectives heard a scuffle from the inside and the unmistakable sounds of someone running.

"Danny, she's coming your way," Stella said into her walkie-talkie.

* * *

><p>Outside, watching the emergency exit staircase, Danny saw their quarry run down the steps. "Yeah, I see her," he said. Darting to the base of the staircase, he was right on time to nab Janice Bright as she came running into him.<p>

"Whoa, whoa, hey, take it easy, all right?" said Danny as he held her fast.

"Look, whatever you cops want me for this time, I didn't do it, okay?" said Bright, her green eyes flashing dangerously and her wild dark hair flying in the wind.

"Yeah, we'll see about that," said Danny as he loosened his grip just a little bit. "Right now we just want to ask you a few questions."

Bright sighed exasperatedly. "Yeah, fine. Whatever."

* * *

><p>Back at the NYPD lab, Stella sat down across the table from Bright, setting a large file full of the case photos, footnotes, documents, and copies of test results down on the table.<p>

"Miss Bright, I'm Detective Bonasera. I understand that you knew Lt. Col. Leah Jasper?"

Bright's face contorted into an ugly sneer. "_Lieutenant-colonel_? Pah! She might have the rank, but she sure as hell didn't have the skill."

"I'm sure the United States Marine Corps thought she did, or they wouldn't have given her the rank," said Stella coolly. "Or are you suggesting that the Navy doesn't know what it's doing?"

Bright remained silent, but the sneer became less pronounced.

Stella opened the Jasper's file and slid a photo of her position when they found her, in which it was clearly visible that she had been stuffed behind the bench. "Col. Jasper was discovered dead on the pool deck of the Marriott Hotel two days ago." She watched Bright closely for a reaction, but nothing happened except that surprise crossed her face.

"She's dead?" Bright asked disbelievingly. Then, slowly, a grim smile of satisfaction spread across her face. "I suppose it's the last thing you'd expect, Detective, but I find I can cope with the news rather happily. I absolutely _loathed _that spoilt, pampered, attention-seeking brat."

"I'm afraid that is exactly why we suspect your involvement in her death, Miss Bright," said Stella. "You see, jealousy, envy, and hatred are often good motives for murder."

Bright let out a harsh bark of laughter. "You think I did it? No, Detective, not me. Believe me, I would have loved to, but I wouldn't have stuffed her behind the bench. I'd have liked the world to know I'd got her at last." She said it with relish. "But I've been to jail once, and it wasn't a pleasant experience for me. It is definitely not one I'd care to repeat. This may come as a surprise to you, Detective, but I've turned over a new leaf. Yes, I still hate that Jasper girl with a passion; yes, I'm still green with envy for her; yes, I'm still sore about the way I spent my college years – but my time in jail was like a wake up call. I figured if I didn't want to end up there again, I'd better change myself. So, yeah, I may not be perfect, I may never be able to face anyone from college with a smile again, but in general I've improved a great deal, Detective."

"If you had nothing to do with Col. Jasper's murder, why did you try to run from us when we came to your apartment?" inquired Stella.

"Ever since I got out of jail, the cops have been coming by every week, and every time they 'visit' they mess up my apartment looking for the stolen jewelry, no matter how many times I tell them that my double-crossing, two-faced partner took them with her and I have no idea where they are. I'm also interrogated thoroughly each time, as if they're hoping for me to let something slip. And not to mention the physical search of my body for anything I might have hidden on me. All this just because I have a bad track record. So you'll excuse me if I wanted to escape all the hassle." Bright sat back and folded her arms, as if daring Stella to contradict her explanation.

"Well, if you've really turned over a new leaf, you won't mind giving me some of your DNA," said Stella.

"Oh, please," scoffed Bright. "I'm a convicted felon who was released less than a month ago. My DNA's all over the system. If you haven't found any matches to any unidentified blood traces, doesn't that prove to you that I was nowhere near that crime scene?" She sounded bored. "Are we done here?"

"For now," said Stella, gathering the case file and walking toward the door. "Escort her out," she said to the guards.

Then, out of the blue, an idea came to her head, and she got out her phone. "Hey, Hawkes, you busy?" Hawkes replied in the negative, and Stella added, "How'd you like to do some digging on our friend Janice Bright?"

* * *

><p>Adam stared at the computer, willing it to give him some useful results.<p>

"Come on, come on, come on…Gotcha!" he exclaimed. He printed the results out and raced off to find somebody, leaving a confused Abby, who sprinted off after him, in his wake.

Twisting around the corner, Adam saw Tony DiNozzo wandering aimlessly around the hallways, presumably looking for a vending machine. After a brief moment's hesitation, he ran up to the NCIS field agent so fast he nearly knocked him down.

"Whoa, easy there," said Tony, helping Adam regain his balance. "No need to rush. If you want an autograph, I'll give it to you, no problem."

"Uh-huh, sure thing, auto…wait, autograph?" Adam repeated in utter bewilderment.

"No, I was just joking," Tony deflected. "Why were you rushing around the lab, anyway?"

"Because," answered Adam, "I've made an important discovery in the case."

"Really?" Tony asked in surprise. He'd expected Abby to find something first, knowing her as he did. And shouldn't she be right behind Adam, in any case?

Just then Abby skidded into the corridor, huffing and panting and looking rather flustered. "Adam," she said reprovingly, "it was really mean of you to go rushing off like that. I got lost while I was trying to follow you." She pretended to pout.

"Oh, uh, sorry, Abby," Adam apologized, who, not knowing Abby very well, thought she really was upset. "No hard feelings?"

Abby broke into a grin. "None whatsoever. What do you have?"

"You know the blood sample Danny got from Col. Jasper's swimsuit?" said Adam.

"Yeah, he said it wasn't from her, and he'd run it through CODIS, but like the blood he pulled off her towel, he didn't get any hits," said Abby.

Adam looked down at the papers he was holding. "Well, I tested the blood from the swimsuit and I discovered that it matches the unidentified trace from the towel. When I tested it further, I found that the blood also carries the gene containing the genetic code for Huntington's disease."

"So?" asked Abby, while Tony tried to keep up with the conversation. "That still doesn't get us any closer to who killed Col. Jasper – unless, you know someone with Huntington's?"

"As a matter of fact," Adam replied, "I do. On a hunch, I searched for the medical records of Marie and Linnaeus Wilcox, and I pulled their file from the New York General database." He handed the papers to Abby. "Marie Wilcox is in perfect health, but Linnaeus…"

"…suffers from Huntington's disease," Abby completed, after a quick look at the printed medical records.

Tony had only one thing to say. "What sort of a name is Linnaeus?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Bright, Wilcox, Huntington's...I hope you guys can keep up, because this case gets pretty complicated. It has to be, to span three stories.**_


	6. Chapter Five

_**A/N: Okay, this is a really short chapter, but it's necessary to set up the long chapter that's coming up next.**_

_**We're back to two reviewers today - **arozenheart412 **and **leath. **If only more people would follow your example (hint, hint). And thanks to** Kirra Maree J **for adding the story to alerts, and to **csi-twilight-numb3rs **for adding it to both favorites and alerts. To the last two, you think you could possibly leave a short review next time (and yes, I'm directing this to all of you who are reading and have put this story on alerts/favorites but haven't reviewed)?**_

* * *

><p><em><em>**Chapter Five**

_16:40, October 28; Mac's office, NY Crime Lab_

Mac and Gibbs were sitting in Mac's office, with a cup of steaming coffee each. To some, it might appear that these men had known each other for a long time. The similarities in the way they sat, upright and straight-backed; their countenance, the expressions on their faces – all pointed to the fact that they had been acquainted for some time. But this was not the case at all. They barely knew each other, and it was for this reason that Mac had invited the NCIS operative for a cup of coffee in his office to get acquainted, seeing as they would be working together. The Crime Lab supervisor was also hoping to erase the slight tension that had sprung up between them since their verbal battle for jurisdiction.

"You in charge of the whole Crime Lab?" Gibbs was asking.

"I am," Mac replied. "You?"

"Supervisor of the Major Case Response Team of NCIS," Gibbs responded.

"You married?" asked Mac.

"Was," came the curt reply.

"Same here." Mac wondered why he was opening up to this stranger. Maybe because they had both been Marines, and because they both would do whatever it took to keep their city safe.

"Divorce?" inquired Gibbs.

"9/11." Mac didn't trust himself to say more than that.

Gibbs nodded sympathetically. "I know how it feels. It gets better with time."

"You lost your wife too?" asked Mac.

"And daughter." He took a sip of his coffee.

"I'm sorry."

"Never apologize. It's a sign of weakness."

"I wasn't exactly apologizing, you know," Mac said with a wry smile.

"I know." Gibbs smiled slightly.

Their conference was interrupted by the ringing of two phones. Mac and Gibbs both answered their respective handhelds at the same time.

"Taylor," said Mac, while his companion responded, "Yeah, Tony?"

After several seconds, they both put their phones away and looked at each other.

"Your technician's found us a possible suspect," said Gibbs. "Linnaeus Wilcox has Huntington's disease, and so does the person whose blood is on Lt. Jasper's swimsuit and towel. Detective Flack's got him in interrogation."

"Stella's got a lead too," affirmed Mac. "She and Hawkes are following a paper trail dealing with Bright's criminal record."

"Let's go," said Gibbs, voicing what they were both thinking.

* * *

><p>Linnaeus Wilcox had lank, mousy brown hair and nervous, darting eyes. He gulped visibly and his hand shook. While these may all be factors pointing to a guilty conscience, they were in fact merely the effects of his Huntington's disease, and Flack, who was questioning him, knew it.<p>

"We brought in your wife for questioning earlier today," Flack began, sliding a photo of Leah Jasper toward Linnaeus. "It's a bit odd, don't you think, that you're on our suspect list a couple of hours later?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Recognize her?" he asked, gesturing to the photo.

"That's Leah," answered Linnaeus. "One of Marie's friends from college. I recognize her from the photo of Marie's graduation class."

"Well, she's dead," Flack informed him bluntly. "And we found somebody else's blood at the crime scene. Blood belonging to someone with Huntington's disease."

Linnaeus exhaled. "Is that all?" he asked. At Flack's raised eyebrow, he said, "Look, Detective, I'm not the only person with Huntington's in this city. Admittedly, the fact that I have a connection to Leah is a bit incriminating, but I promise you I had nothing to do with it."

"Well, then you won't mind giving me some DNA to test against the blood we found," said Flack.

Linnaeus raised his hands. "Go ahead. I've nothing to hide."

* * *

><p>Gibbs, watching behind the mirror with Mac, observed the whole interrogation intently until something prickled the back of his neck. He knew that sensation well. It was a feeling he'd had often when he was in the Middle East, and whenever one of his team had been in serious trouble.<p>

"Detective Taylor, where did you say Detective Bonasera was?" he asked Mac.

Mac was surprised. "She's down at the precinct on 4th Avenue. Why?"

When Gibbs didn't answer and instead headed for the door, Mac asked anxiously, "Is something wrong?"

"Let you know when I find out," Gibbs replied, in typical Gibbs-fashion.

* * *

><p><strong><em>AN: Dun-dun-dun! Trouble has reared its ugly head. Anyway, you guys have been asking for a Tony/Flack scene - the two smart mouths mouthing off. I guarantee you there will be one - but I'm not saying WHEN it will be - it could be this story, it could be the next...it could even be the third. You'll have to wait and see, won't you? BUT, I CAN guarantee more Abby - she gets a long scene where she's the star in about - oh, two chapters ;)_**


	7. Chapter Six

**_A/N: Right, first off, I am so sorry this chapter is late. I meant to post it at the usual time, but today's been really really hectic. I have barely been home!  
><em>**

**_Anyway, here's a big thank you to all those kind-hearted people who heeded my not-so-subtle plea for reviews yesterday. _**_shipperheart, DizzyDrea, castlencis, lily moonlight, cms4ever, **and **leath**; thanks also to **suchrandomness **and **lily moonlight **for adding this story to alerts.**_

_**Now, buckle up and get ready for some excitement!**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong>

_17:30, October 28; NYPD 4th Avenue Precinct_

The shots were unexpected, cutting through the air sharply, ringing in the ears of all who heard them. Pedestrians screamed and dropped to their knees, pleading for their lives – but they needn't have bothered. The shooters were only interested in two targets: Stella and Hawkes, who had ducked behind an SUV at the first sound of a gun and started firing back.

Stella fired three rounds in quick succession and dropped back down, slamming more shells into her nine millimeter.

"How much ammo you got left?" she asked Hawkes as she forced the last of her bullets in with a click.

"I've got two rounds," Hawkes replied. He raised his upper body and pulled the trigger. "One."

Stella got up and fired again, not really aiming precisely before she shot – time was too precious for that. Her bullet ricocheted off a lamp post and buried itself into one of the shooters.

"I think I got one of them," Stella said, dropping down again.

"I wish we'd get them all," Hawkes responded, firing his last bullet. "I'm out."

Stella checked her gun. "So am I. What do we do now?"

Hawkes was about to reply with some generic answer – but just at that moment, something small and incredibly painful hit him in the shoulder. Crying out, he doubled over, clutching his injured arm.

"Hawkes!" Stella cried, bending down beside him. She couldn't stop an involuntary gasp from escaping when another bullet zoomed by, missing her by millimeters.

"Get out of here, Stel," Hawkes said through gritted teeth.

"Not a chance." Stella grabbed a piece of broken, mangled metal and threw it at one of their attackers; the man cursed and jumped out of the way. "Besides, we're surrounded. There's nowhere to go." She pulled Hawkes to the side as a bullet went straight through what used to be the passenger window of the car. Hawkes groaned in pain.

"Sorry, Sheldon," Stella apologized.

"It's okay," Hawkes managed to say. "What's the situation like?"

"Well," began Stella, "I don't want to be a pessimist, but if we don't get some backup soon, they'll be lugging us back to the lab in body bags." She started digging in her pocket for her phone.

At that moment, a car driven at high speed pulled over beside the SUV. A gun poked out the driver's window, and in three precise shots, it took out the remaining shooters.

"Who is that?" Stella wondered out loud.

Her question was answered when Gibbs stepped out of the door, holding his still-smoking gun. "You all right?" he asked.

"I am, but Hawkes isn't," Stella replied. "Hawkes?" she questioned, looking at her colleague, who had lapsed into unconsciousness. "Damn it," she muttered, getting out her phone and dialing 911 as Gibbs started applying first aid. "I need an ambulance on 4th Avenue immediately."

Just then another car drove up. This one was familiar to Stella; it was Mac's car.

"What happened?" Danny demanded as he stepped out and surveyed the area. "Stella?"

"Hawkes is shot," Stella replied curtly. "I'm fine, Mac," she answered in response to her friend's concerned inquiries.

It was three minutes later before the ambulance arrived. Mac insisted on getting Stella checked out, and Stella agreed once the head paramedic told her that Hawkes would be fine.

"He's lucky," the paramedic informed them at the hospital after Hawkes had been taken into surgery. "The bullet wasn't traveling at a very high speed, and his collarbone stopped it from penetrating too deep."

"Thank you," Stella said. The paramedic nodded and left. Stella exhaled and looked around at the empty chairs beside her in the waiting room. She was currently the only one there for Hawkes, since Danny had gone back to the lab after he was sure Hawkes would survive, Gibbs had returned to his team, and Mac had gone to get her a cup of coffee.

"Hey," a voice interrupted her thoughts.

_Speak of the devil…_Stella thought wryly, accepting her coffee cup from Mac.

"How's Hawkes?" Mac asked, settling down beside her with his own cup.

"He'll live, with no permanent injuries." Stella took a sip of her coffee.

"That's good," said Mac, obviously relieved. He cared about each and every member of his team, but he was closest to Stella, and he could tell when she was upset about something, like she was now. "So what's wrong?"

Stella didn't smile. "We were really lucky, Mac. It could've been much worse. We were getting close to something big, and whoever's behind this knew it, so he sent people to gun us down before we could say anything. They were professional hitmen, and Hawkes and I were both out of ammo. If Gibbs hadn't shown up when he had…"

"I know." Mac mulled over the incident. "We owe him a debt of gratitude."

"Did you send him?" Stella wanted to know. Mac shook his head.

"No. Somehow he knew you were in trouble, and he rushed off to help. I hadn't a clue."

"I'll have to thank him for that," Stella mentioned. "He saved Hawkes' life."

"He saved yours too," Mac reminded her. He smiled wryly. "Try to be more careful next time, okay? I don't want to have to load you into an ambulance."

Stella chuckled. "I'll try, but no guarantees."

Mac nodded. He couldn't ask for any, considering their line of work. Instead he queried, "So what'd you find?"

Stella exhaled. "Some very puzzling pieces," she admitted. "Bright was tried twice for jewel theft, and convicted the second time. She was released on bail, but no one knows by whom. Some anonymous guy came in ten days after she was imprisoned, posted bail in cash, and took her out with him. Col. Jasper's testimony was what convicted Bright, but we haven't found Bright's DNA anywhere near the crime scene. The judge who presided over Bright's hearing was Harvey Gates, but he's disappeared. No one's seen him for days. And there's been absolutely no trace of Bright's so-called accomplice or the stolen jewelry."

"So ten days after the trial that convicted Bright, her bail was paid by an unknown person, and less than a month after that, Judge Gates disappears and Jasper is found dead with an 'M' carved into her ankle," concluded Mac. "Seems like someone is out for revenge against anyone involved in Bright's conviction, but if it wasn't her, who is it?"

"I don't know, Mac," admitted Stella. "But whoever it is, he or she is really going all out to make sure the evidence stays hidden."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Now, this author's note is in response to a few questions posed by some of my readers. I put it here at the end, 'cause some of the answers would've spoiled the chapter for you ;)**_

___shipperheart, **thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you're enjoying this story. I agree, it would be so totally awesome if an actual NCIS/CSI crossover occurred on TV. They're both CBS shows, so it might still happen. Might.**_

___DizzyDrea, **hi again! I hope I satisfied your interest about Stella and Hawkes' situation well enough. And might I just add that I really appreciate you submitting another review to complete the one that got cut off?**_

___castlencis **- thanks!**_

_lily moonlight **- you're right, it i**__**s a little discouraging when no one reviews. So I thank you for your feedback. I've already said all that needs to be said about the Tony/Flack scene...about the Mac/Stella - well, we saw some of that in this chapter, and there's more coming up. I love their relationship too, but I don't ship them as a couple - just as really good friends.**_ _**And as for Ducky and Sid - THAT's set for tomorrow's chapter.**_

___cms4ever, **by now ****you should know that I update daily without fail. The chapter might be a little late sometimes, but it always makes it. And no worries - this particular story is complete, so there's no chance of it hanging indefinitely on hiatus. You needn't be concerned about the fate of the trilogy as a whole, either - I'm well into the second story by now, and I've got the rest of the plot laid out. The Cross Country Case will live on till it's solved!**_

___**And, finally, **leath. **You've been reading my stories for quite a while now, and I want you to know I appreciate you coming back whenever I write something that you're interested in. Your reviews are loyal, and I'm really grateful. By now you know that you were spot on about Gibbs shooting someone. And Abby's typical wow moment is happening tomorrow - I hope you like it.**_

__**_That's all for now - and I do apologize for the long note. See you folks tomorrow!_**


	8. Chapter Seven

_**A/N: Thanks to **lily moonlight, leath, **and **castlencis **for reviewing, and thanks to **proulx92 **for adding this **__**fic to favorites.**_

_**Now, I know the past two chapters have been rather short - but rejoice! This chapter is longer than both of those combined! It's quite information heavy, so fire up those brains of yours and start concentrating!**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>

_18:55, October 28; Morgue, NY Crime Lab_

"So, what story do you have to tell me? Or have you already told everything to Dr. Hammerback?" Ducky chuckled and pulled on a pair of rubber gloves. As he bent to examine the M in Jasper's ankle, he continued, "You know, I have performed autopsies on many Marines, but I must say, you are a mystery. Lieutenant-Colonel and a Bronze Star recipient who never missed a day of work…I wonder how many enemies you could have made in the corps, because clearly, your torture was performed by someone with at least a slight experience in the military, as I just told Dr. Hammerback – you know, he was not aware of that until I pointed it out to him…I suppose they mostly work civilian cases, while at NCIS, we concentrate purely on crimes concerning Marines."

He gently pulled the skin around the scar apart, still talking. "Well, my dear, it looks like you had quite a rough time with your killer, didn't you? Multiple bruises, lacerations, rope burns, several fractures – all just as Dr. Hammerback described…what could you have known that was so important to the person who killed you, and did you reveal it to him? I am inclined to think – ah! What's this?"

Ducky inserted a pair of tweezers into the M-shaped wound and pulled out a tiny slip of paper, folded into eighths.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" he said. "Col. Jasper, I do believe you've led us to a valuable clue."

"Are you talking to the vic?" inquired Sid as he entered the morgue.

"Ah! Dr. Hammerback," greeted Ducky. "Yes, I tend to make conversation with those whom I perform autopsies on – it makes them seem more like an actual person rather than just another body on the table, somehow. In any case, I've found something that could prove to be quite worthwhile in the investigation – and as such, I suspect Gibbs will be coming by any minute now – he always does whenever I make an important discovery."

Sid was about to ask how on earth Gibbs could possibly know what was going on in the morgue, when the door opened to admit the NCIS supervisory agent himself.

"What've you got, Duck?" he asked in his usual businesslike manner.

"Ah, Jethro, right on time," said Ducky, winking at Sid and smiling at the ME's amazed expression. "I just pulled this from our victim's ankle wound. What it was doing in there I can't tell you, but perhaps further inspection will provide the answer. In any event, our killer has at least some military training, as is shown by the precision torture methods he used – indicated in our victim's wounds. Other than that, I have not found anything more than what Dr. Hammerback did."

Gibbs nodded and accepted the slip of paper, which Ducky had already packaged in a plastic evidence bag. At the door, Gibbs turned and informed Sid, "Detective Taylor asked me to tell you that Hawkes is in New York Mercy for treatment of a bullet wound."

"What?" exclaimed Sid. "Is he all right?"

"He'll be in there for a few days, but he'll make a full recovery."

"If I'm not mistaken, Stella was with him, wasn't she?" asked Sid. "Is she –"

"She's fine." Gibbs turned to go. "Whoever this killer is, he's very determined not to get caught. So watch your back." Then he left.

"Dr. Hammerback, I'm sorry to hear of your colleague's misfortune," offered Ducky. "But the important thing is he'll recover."

"That's a good thing," agreed Sid. "And if I can call you Ducky, you can call me Sid."

"Very well, Sid," chuckled Ducky. "If I may…you seem to be quite close to Hawkes, perhaps more so than your other colleagues."

"You're very observant, Ducky," Sid noted.

"Well, when you work with Gibbs long enough, he rubs off on you. I suppose I should tell you now that you probably have Gibbs to thank for both Hawkes' and Detective Bonasera's survival." At Sid's quizzical look, Ducky elaborated, "I've known Gibbs for many years, Sid. And even though he is a master of hiding his feelings, his tone, though you may not have noticed, conveyed that he was almost too late to help."

Sid exhaled sharply. "I'll have to thank him in person when I get the chance, then. You're right, Ducky – I'm closer to Sheldon than to most of the other CSIs. Sheldon used to be a medical examiner before he moved into the field. I worked with him for quite some time."

Ducky nodded understandingly. "Well," he said presently. "I'm not sure if we'll find anything more that will be of use, but would you care to join me in a secondary autopsy of Col. Jasper? And perhaps a late dinner after?"

Sid smiled and came over.

* * *

><p>Tony fiddled with his wallet, flipping it open and closed as fast as he could manage. He'd been such a hindrance in the lab, with his constant questions, movie quotes, and suggestions, that Danny and Lindsay had finally told him that it might be best if he worked at a desk at the precinct with Flack and Ziva. At the moment though, with the case being what it was, there were few things to do, and Tony was bored.<p>

"_Will_ you stop that?" Ziva demanded in irritation, after he'd closed his wallet with a soft _flap _for the umpteenth time.

"I'm bored, David, and there's nothing else to do," responded Tony. He stowed his wallet in his pocket and came over to the desk Ziva had been temporarily assigned. "What are you working on so diligently over here, may I ask?"

Ziva swatted his prying hand away. "If you must know, I am running a list of possible suspects based on what I've read of Col. Jasper's history – which you would have thought of, if you hadn't been so busy playing with your wallet. So why don't you go back to your desk and do something useful?" she asked pointedly.

Tony raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, take it easy. I can be useful." He sauntered back to his desk and typed something into the search engine. "And bingo! He scores!" he exclaimed triumphantly with a smirk in Ziva's direction.

"You got something, DiNozzo?" Flack asked as he came in, trailed by Abby, who was holding a portable computer pad commonly used by the CSIs.

"Hm. Weird. For a moment there you sounded just like Gibbs," Tony remarked.

"Stop right there, Tony!" Abby exclaimed. "No one sounds as much like Gibbs as Gibbs. To say otherwise would be implying that there is more than one Gibbs in the world – which is, of course, impossible."

"Am I the only one who's missing something here?" Flack complained.

"Abby," said Tony. "What are you doing here?"

Abby tilted her head and grinned. "I hitched a ride with Detective Flack to tell you what I've found so far."

"You came all this way to tell me about evidence when a simple phone call would have worked just as well?"

"I'm not used to relaying information over the phone, Tony," Abby pointed out. She placed the computer pad on Tony's desk for his inspection. "That is what I'm doing here," she answered, pointing at the pad. "And, might I just say, these pads – they're awesome."

"Okay, what's this?" Tony mused, scrolling up and down the pad. "Abby, this is a report stating that the DNA of Linnaeus Wilcox does _not _match the DNA found at the crime scene."

"Scroll further, and you'll find out what it _does _match," said Abby with a wide smile. By this time both Flack and Ziva had gathered behind Tony's shoulder to see what was on the pad.

"Okay, DNA of Linnaeus Wilcox is not a perfect match to the DNA at the crime scene," began Tony, moving his finger down the pad and pausing as he read the next words. "But it _is_ a filial match." He looked up, a broad grin spreading on his face. "Abby…"

"I know. I'm brilliant." Abby smiled again. "And as such, I've already taken the liberty to do some research. Linnaeus Wilcox has two brothers, both of whom received military training – but neither of them passed the final physical exam, because they both have Huntington's disease. But only one has a connection to Janice Bright."

"What's the connection, who's the brother?" Flack inquired.

Abby leaned over and brought up another set of files on the computer pad. "Kendall Wilcox, oldest of the family, born in New York in January 1962, suffers mild Huntington's and is married to Joelle Bright, who is Janice Bright's mother."

"Linnaeus was born in 1977," Tony remarked. "That's a fifteen-year difference."

"It's not that uncommon, Tony," said Abby. "I know someone who's twenty years younger than her sister – and believe me, they _are _from the same set of parents."

"Wait, wait, back up," said Flack. "Janice Bright's DNA is all over the system for the jewel thefts she committed, and our search did not turn up _any_ matches, partial or otherwise."

"That's because Kendall Wilcox is not Janice Bright's father," Abby informed him.

"She's right," Ziva spoke up, reading ahead of Tony on the pad. "Bright's birth certificate lists her father as one Horace Underwood. Also, Bright was born in 1983. Kendall didn't marry Joelle until 1995."

"Okay, so let me get this straight," said Flack, trying to make sense of the discoveries. "Kendall marries Joelle when Janice is twelve years old. Sixteen years later, his brother Linnaeus is married to Marie Wilcox, nee Sommers, who was a friend of Leah Jasper, who was Janice's worst enemy in college. Then Jasper turns up dead on the pool deck of the Marriott four weeks after she testifies against Bright for jewel theft, and the judge presiding over the case disappears just a few days before that. And to top it all off, Kendall's blood is found at the Jasper crime scene. Is that about right?"

"We don't know for sure that it's Kendall's blood at the scene," Abby corrected. "It could be the second brother, Vincent. The only way to be certain is to get a reference sample to match it to. But it is very likely," she allowed.

"And you're missing one little detail, my friend." Tony handed the computer pad to Ziva and swiveled around in his chair, pulling up the results of the search he had run just seconds before Flack and Abby had entered. "As we know, someone mysteriously posted bail for Bright ten after she was landed in an eight by ten cell. I did a little digging, and it turns out, Kendall Wilcox was the one who got Bright out."

"How'd you get to that?" Flack wanted to know.

"Prison records show that Kendall signed in approximately two hours before Bright's bail was paid, as one of only three visitors. Prior to that day, he'd been away on a 'business trip' in Los Angeles for the past five months."

"So Kendall gets back from L.A., finds out that his stepdaughter is in jail for robbery, and then immediately posts bail for her in cash," Ziva concluded. "Am I the only one who finds that just a bit odd?"

"Kinda defies the whole evil stepparent stereotype, doesn't it?" Tony agreed. He looked around, a somewhat puzzled expression on his face. "Hey, has anyone seen McGee?"

"He's back at the lab," Abby supplied. "He's working on Col. Jasper's laptop with Adam. That thing's got encryption like you wouldn't believe."

Tony's phone rang just then, and he pulled it out with a surprised look. "Huh, look at that." He showed them the caller ID. "It's the great McGeek himself." He flipped the phone open and said, "Yeah, McGoo?"

_"I broke the encryption on Col. Jasper's laptop," _McGee informed him.

"Well done, Elf Lord," Tony praised. "But shouldn't you be calling Gibbs?"

_"It's big," _McGee told him. _"Gibbs wants everyone back at the Crime Lab for a full briefing. Detective Taylor says to bring Detective Flack along."_

"Coming right up," Tony agreed. He flipped his phone closed. "We're needed at the Crime Lab," he said to the others, grabbing his coat from behind his chair.

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: See you guys tomorrow!**_


	9. Chapter Eight

_**A/N: Thank you **shipperheart, DizzyDrea, **and **leath **for revie****wing! And you're right, **leath **- NCIS investigates within the Navy too, not just Marines. Thanks for pointing it out.**_

_**Today's chapter is shorter, but it borders near information overload. I really hope you guys can keep up, because this information is very important not just to this story, but to the entire trilogy as a whole.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight<strong>

_20:22, October 28; NY Crime Lab_

When Flack, Tony, and Ziva reached the Crime Lab, everyone else had already gathered in the conference room (excluding Ducky and Sid – and Hawkes, of course).

"Sorry we're late, Mac – got held up by traffic," Flack apologized.

Mac nodded in acknowledgement, then turned to McGee and Adam, who started the briefing.

"Okay, so with Agent McGee's help, I finally managed to crack the encryption on Col. Jasper's laptop – well, actually, it was mostly McGee…I just helped, and…"

"Adam," Mac reminded.

"Right, sorry," the tech agreed, looking more nervous than usual. "Anyway, when we accessed the hard drive, we found a ton of stuff on an unsolved murder that goes back almost fifteen years. There was this huge file filled with nothing but newspaper articles, evidence reports, attempted investigations, and other documents about this particular case. When we dug deeper, we found some really confusing details about the case's connections to what looks to be an old smuggling ring."

"Hang on, Adam, so you're saying…?" Stella asked.

At this point McGee took over, relieving Adam of the need to continue briefing a fairly large group of investigators. Earlier, he had hooked up Col. Jasper's laptop to the plasma screen in the room, and he now used it to aid the briefing, pulling up a newspaper report of an old murder.

"Here's how it goes," he said, in the businesslike voice he used whenever he informed Gibbs of his findings. "Fifteen years ago, a thirteen-year-old girl named Anna Winston was murdered in D.C. A police investigation turned up evidence linking the case with a suspected smuggling ring. However, the evidence wasn't conclusive, and the case was never solved."

"What does this have to do with Leah Jasper?" Flack asked.

In response, McGee caused a picture of two girls to appear onscreen. "This was taken shortly before Anna was murdered. The girl on the right is Anna Winston, and the one on the left is Leah Jasper." He paused as the news sank in, then continued, "Judging from entries in Col. Jasper's electronic journal, Anna was her best friend during childhood. When the investigation was called off on account of inconclusive evidence, Jasper was furious. She vowed to find Anna's murderer herself. From what we can find, Jasper became a Marine so she would have the clearance necessary to access old police records and start her own investigation.

"Now this is the part where it gets tricky. At around the same time Anna was killed, there were rumors of a new, efficient smuggling ring operating from Los Angeles. MPs traced Anna's murder to the ring, but they couldn't prove anything. In her investigation, Jasper focused on the link between Anna's murder and the smuggling ring, and in doing so she managed to uncover more evidence about this ring." He cleared the screen and brought up a new set of files. "It's called MWC – Main Wave Corporation. They specialize in jewel smuggling, using their name as a fake company as a cover when they sell their stolen goods."

"Is this information known to the public?" Gibbs inquired.

"Uh, no, boss," McGee replied. "The file is dated October 25, the day before Col. Jasper was killed. She never had a chance to share the information."

"Okay, so Jasper's investigation leads her to this Main Wave Corporation smuggling ring," Ziva summarized. "When they find out that she has information that could expose them they send someone to kill her, and they remove any identification to delay our investigation, giving them more time to cover their tracks. But why didn't they take her laptop?"

"Maybe they didn't think of it," Adam suggested. "Maybe whoever killed her panicked, and didn't hang around to get rid of the evidence. And by the time it occurred to him to take the laptop, we'd already gone through the crime scene and taken all her stuff."

"But why would Main Wave Corporation kill Anna Winston in the first place?" Tony wondered.

"She could have stumbled on something she wasn't supposed to," proposed McGee. "In any case, we can confirm that Jasper was definitely not in New York for vacation." He brought a file to the forefront of the screen. "Her investigation unearthed a connection between Janice Bright, the Wilcox brothers, and Main Wave."

"More specifically, a connection between Kendall Wilcox and Main Wave," Adam put in. "As it turns out, Kendall is the head of Main Wave Corporations, which would make him the mastermind behind the smuggling ring…"

"…and the murder of Col. Jasper," Lindsay added. "It's starting to make sense now."

"And if we add in the fact that Janice Bright is his stepdaughter, there could be a connection between her and Main Wave as well," Danny deduced. "Maybe she was stealing jewelry for her stepdad to sell."

"That would also explain why Kendall posted bail for her as soon as he heard she was in prison," Abby said. "And, when Jasper dug deeper, she would've found that Kendall's brother Linnaeus was married to Marie Sommers, her friend from high school. Marie wouldn't have known anything about Anna, because Anna died before high school."

"And that's when Jasper decided to come to New York," McGee concluded. "Everyone involved was based New York, so she applied for a leave of absence and came here to follow up on her leads. She drops in on Marie to see what she knows, and possibly snoop around on Linnaeus. Kendall hears about the visit and realizes what she's up to, so he either sends someone to kill her after torturing her to find out what she knows and leave her for us to find on the pool deck in the Marriott – or he did it himself. The 'M' on Jasper's ankle probably stands for Main Wave."

"Wow." Tony shook his head. "This is a real tangle. Like the complex murder mystery in –"

"If you compare this to any movie you've seen, I will make you hurt in places you didn't know you had," Ziva threatened.

Tony held up his hands. "Easy there, tigress."

"So what do we do next?" Stella asked, looking at Mac. "I mean, with the case this big, we need to go very carefully."

"We need to find evidence," was his reply. "We may have connected Kendall Wilcox to Lt. Jasper's murder, but we still have to prove he was behind it – and we still haven't identified her killer."

"Actually," Abby spoke up, "we sort of have. Adam…" She turned to the technician. "You wanna tell them what you found?"

Adam cleared his throat. "Okay, so I processed our vic's swimming cap and managed to lift a partial print that matches the unidentified partials on her wallet. I also got DNA off the cap that's a match to the blood on the towel and swimsuit."

"That's the blood with a filial match to Linnaeus Wilcox, right?" Tony asked.

"Right," Adam affirmed, "which means that our killer can only be one of Linnaeus' two brothers: either Kendall or Vincent Wilcox."

"Danny, Lindsay, find them and bring them in," Mac instructed. "With the evidence we have we can obtain a warrant for their DNA and fingerprints to match against what we have."

"Whichever Wilcox brother matches is the one who killed Jasper," Danny agreed.

"What about the connection to the smuggling ring?" Flack questioned.

"That is out of our jurisdiction," Mac responded. "Main Wave is based in Los Angeles. Our job here in New York is to catch Leah Jasper's killer, no more, no less."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: Sadly, tomorrow will see the last chapter of this story**__**. However, I am aiming to get the second story out by Christmas - no promises, though. The only thing I can 100% guarantee is that it will get posted, as will the third story. Also, tomorrow's chapter might be a wee bit late, because I'm going out of town.**_


	10. Chapter Nine

_**A/N: Thank you to **castlencis **and**_ _leath __**for reviewing, and a big welcome back for **afrozenheart412, **who left long and detailed reviews on the the last FOUR chapters AND added me to author alerts. Also, thanks to **ladyyuuki16 **for adding th****is story to favorites and alerts. (And yes, **leath, **the date in the last chapter should have been October instead of June; I have corrected the oversight. Thank you for pointing it out.)**  
><em>

_**Now, sadly, this particular story is drawing to a close, as we begin the last chapter. I have a feeling quite a few of you will be just about ready to throttle me by the end of it, because of the ginormous cliffhanger and so many unresolved loose ends - but do take heart in the fact that this tale is far from over. And with that, I leave you to the final chapter of New York's Urban Murder.**_

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Nine<strong>

_08:22, October 30; New York Mercy Hospital_

The smiling nurse came into the room and pulled the curtains apart, allowing the bright morning sun to stream through.

"Good morning, Dr. Hawkes," she greeted cheerfully. "How are you today?"

"Fine," Hawkes replied from his bed. He adjusted his position, wincing as the movement jarred his injured shoulder.

"You've got a visitor," the nurse told him. With another sunny smile, she exited the room just as Danny came in, carrying a large paper bag.

"Hey, Doc," he said. "How you doin'?"

"I'm okay, Danny," answered Hawkes.

"Good," Danny responded. "That's good." He sat down in the visitor's chair. "I can't stay long – Mac wants me back at the lab to work on the case by nine."

Hawkes nodded in acknowledgment. "How's it going?"

"Slowly," Danny replied. "And it isn't just a homicide now either. The whole thing's expanded to something really big and complicated, and I can't explain it completely. Flack's gonna drop by later to see you – he can tell you the full story. In the meantime…" He reached his hand into the bag and started pulling out things one by one. "…you've got plenty of stuff to keep you busy. This one's from Stella" – he withdrew a beribboned jar of homemade cookies – "that one's from Mac" – he pointed at a thick hardcover book – "this is from me and Lindsay" – another jar, this one filled with cake – "this is from Flack" – out came a Sudoku puzzle book and a pen – "and these are from Sid." He set a pile of medical journals on the table beside Hawkes' bed. "I don't know, I think he wants you to brush up on your doctoring or something."

Hawkes chuckled.

"Oh, and…" Danny's hand dipped into the bag again and came out with a bunch of colorful, glossy magazines. "This is from Agent DiNozzo."

"Tony?" Hawkes was surprised.

"Yeah." Danny's expression was wry. "I don't know what the heck he's thinking with these magazines, but he says you'll find them interesting." He shrugged. "Of course, if you'd rather I dumped them in a trashcan on my way out…"

"That's okay, Danny," Hawkes said with a smile. "I appreciate the thought, though. Thanks."

Danny nodded, then checked his watch. "All right, I'd better get going. You get well soon, okay?"

Hawkes chuckled. "Yeah, all right. See you, man."

* * *

><p>"Oh, come <em>on<em>," Lindsay groaned, staring at the computer in frustration. Stella, walking by, heard her.

"No luck?" she guessed.

"None," Lindsay confessed. "I've looked in every database I can think of; there's no mention of either Kendall or Vincent Wilcox."

Stella sighed. For the past one and a half days both they and Gibbs' team had been searching for the two Wilcox brothers – but so far, they had not managed to find any record of them, except for a couple of addresses McGee dug up yesterday, which turned out to be fake.

"Okay, then let's try a different approach," she suggested. "Look for Joelle Bright."

"Janice's mother?" Lindsay questioned as she typed it in.

"Right," said Stella. "Kendall married Joelle, so in all likelihood he's living with her. If we find Joelle, we might just find Kendall."

A short beep from the computer signaled the first success they'd had in their hunt.

"Okay, I got it," said Lindsay. "Joelle lives on Reade Street, Apartment 222."

"Let's go," said Stella.

* * *

><p>When Joelle Bright opened her door, she found two NYPD officers and one NCIS agent waiting outside.<p>

"Can I help you?" she asked cautiously.

"Mrs. Bright, NYPD," Stella said, showing her her badge.

"NCIS," Tony added, doing the same. "Is your husband at home?"

"Kendall?" Joelle looked surprised. "Uh, no…no, he left on a business trip this morning."

The three law enforcement officers exchanged glances.

"Where?" Tony asked.

"He didn't say."

"Do you know when he'll be back?" Lindsay inquired.

Joelle shrugged apologetically. "Sorry. What's this about?"

"We're investigating the murder of a Navy officer," Tony replied. "We'd like to ask you a few questions about your husband."

"Oh, my God. He doesn't have anything to do with this, does he?" Joelle asked.

"Well, that's what we're trying to find out," answered Stella. "Do you mind coming down to the station with us to answer a few questions?"

"Um, okay…I'll get my coat."

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Mr.…well, I'm afraid I don't know your name." Ducky chuckled. "Still, I don't suppose it makes a difference now, does it?" He lifted a scalpel from his tray of tools to begin the autopsy on one of the four shooters who had tried to assassinate Stella and Hawkes. "The important thing is that you tell me your secrets – then perhaps we'll be able to solve this case, hm?"<p>

Beside him, on another table, Sid smiled and bent to autopsy another shooter, but before he could get his hands dirty, the telephone rang, and instead of beginning the autopsy, he went over to answer it.

"Dr. Hammerback."

_"Hey, Sid, we've got a body here that looks like it's been dead for days," _Flack's voice informed him on the other end. _"Driver's license says it's Harvey Gates."_

Sid frowned. "Isn't that…"

_"The judge in charge of Janice Bright's case?" _Flack completed._ "Yep. He's got the letter 'M' on his ankle too, so I'm guessing we're looking at another Main Wave killing, even though this guy obviously wasn't drowned with a swimming cap. The guys from the ME's office are transporting him back to the lab now. Mac wants him autopsied immediately. Top priority."_

"You got it," said Sid.

* * *

><p>"Gibbs!" McGee called, rushing over to his boss' side.<p>

"You got something, McGee?"

"Yeah, I finally managed to locate Kendall Wilcox." McGee looked down to refer to the computer pad he was using. "Early this morning he used his credit card to purchase a one-way ticket to Washington, D.C."

"When's the flight?" Gibbs questioned.

"It's already left, boss."

Gibbs barely hesitated before delivering his next order: "Book us a flight, McGee. Then get packed." He moved to the end of the hallway to inform Mac and collect the rest of his team.

"Um, okay." McGee paused a bit before he realized that he didn't have a destination. "Uh, boss? Where are we going?"

"Where do you think?"

"Um…"

"D.C., McGee," Gibbs told him, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "We've got a murder suspect to catch."

* * *

><p><em>10:00, October 30; Conference room, NY Crime Lab<em>

They were back in the conference room for another confab, minus Hawkes, Sid, and the entire NCIS team, who had already left for the airport.

"Okay, so we know Kendall Wilcox is at least guilty of smuggling jewels," Mac said, "and possibly the murder of Leah Jasper. He might also have sent those shooters after Stella and Hawkes, but we can't prove either of those until we get his DNA and prints, and we can't do that until we find him."

"He's running to D.C., but he could get on a connecting flight from there to anywhere in the world," Adam added.

"We also need to find Vincent Wilcox; he's the only other possible suspect for Jasper's murder," Stella put in.

"And Harvey Gates was found dead this morning," Flack finished.

"Sid's still doing the autopsy on him," said Danny. "He put TOD around five a.m. four days ago."

"Around the same time Leah Jasper was killed," Lindsay contributed, "making it unlikely that they were killed by the same person."

"Gibbs and his team have gone back to D.C. to chase Kendall," said Mac. "Meanwhile, we have to work the case from our end. We still have to find Vincent Wilcox, and Harvey Gates' killer." He stood up. "We'll be coordinating our efforts to solve both these murders. It's a complicated case that has to be kept low-profile, which means we'll need to proceed with caution and discretion. This cannot be made general knowledge; it would hamper our investigation. Understood?"

A general murmur of assent and head-bobbing met his words.

"Good," he said. "Now let's get to work. We've got two killers to catch."

* * *

><p><em><strong>AN: So? Do you feel like throttling me? And before anyone suggest otherwise, yes this is the end of the story - but not the trilogy. Hopefully I can have the next installment up by the end of the year - key word here is 'hopefully'. I'm not making promises I can't keep.**_

___**See you all in Washington, D.C.**_ _**for the next part of Cross Country Case - Capital Offense.**_


End file.
